The driver of an Onitsha, Anambra state-bound commercial bus has been Kidnapped in Benue State by unknown armed men alongside 10 of his passengers.
According to reports, the victims were travelling from Jos, Plateau State when the incident happened.
The incident is said to have occurred on a bad section of the highway while the driver was attempting to accelerate and zoom out of the danger zone.
A source close to the transport company which owned the bus in Jos revealed that the bus left Jos at about 7:00 am on Friday, 21, 2022, with ten passengers, including the driver, but ran into the gunmen at Eke highway in Benue State at about 4:00 pm.
It was further learnt that gunmen led the passengers into the bush and forced them to surrender their phones, while the driver was mercilessly beaten and also abducted by the gunmen.
The source further revealed that the kidnappers contacted the transport company in Jos on Saturday for a ransom of N5 million per passenger and threatened to kill them if the money was not paid before Monday, October 24.
He added that apart from Saturday’s phone call with the kidnappers, they had not called again but resorted to calling relatives of the passengers in their custody.
It was learnt that relatives and parents of the victims held a meeting at the premises of the transport company in Jos on Monday where they agreed to take a collective decision concerning the ransom and negotiation instead of an individualistic approach.